United Kingdom and Gibraltar European Union membership referendum
all articles
Boris Johnson is in a dilemma. The prime minister has sincerely promised his compatriots to lead Britain out of the EU on 31 October - if necessary without an agreement. But that is precisely what Parliament has forbidden him to do by law. And he has already assured a court that he wants to comply with the requirement. It would force him to demand a deferment of Brexit in Brussels if no agreement was reached by 19 October.
So what do you do? Apparently, Johnson now relies on a different tactic: If he is not allowed to trigger the Brexit on 31 October, it must do just the EU. Namely, their member countries must unanimously approve the extension - and the British government is currently doing everything it can to prevent this.
On Sunday, Johnsons home-mail "The Telegraph" featured a remarkable article about alleged plans by the British government to sabotage the entire EU operation if necessary, if it "forced" into a Brexit postponement.
The "nuclear weapons tactics" of the British government in Brexit poker
This would undermine the already ongoing negotiations on the EU's next seven-year budget and send a Brexit hardliner to Brussels as commissioner - perhaps even EU hater Nigel Farage. That would be like firing "a nuclear weapon into the heart of an asteroid," former Brexit minister Steve Baker said.
On Monday, the conservative "Spectator" published a verbose text message from a senior government official. Accordingly, the British government is trying with three threats, the other EU countries against:
- In the event of a Brexit postponement, they will make it clear to the rest of the EU that the UK government will not continue to negotiate, and therefore the extension would be "completely pointless". So far, the EU's position is that it will only agree to an extension if there is concrete hope for progress.
- It would be made clear publicly and behind the scenes that Britain would favor those EU countries that opposed renewal after Brexit. Everyone else would "slip to the end of the line" on questions of future cooperation - an obvious attempt to divide the EU.
- The "loyal cooperation" obligation set out in the EU treaties, which would also have to be met by Great Britain until Brexit, "would end up in the toilet," the letter said. Which would repeat the threat of sabotaging the EU operation.
The aggressive style of the news promptly led to speculation that the author was none other than Johnsons top consultant Dominic Cummings. Otherwise, former Conservative Secretary for Labor and Employment Amber Rudd, now a Johnson critic, said, "Heads would have rolled."
Merkel is said to have demanded a compromise from Johnson
On Tuesday, there was the next attempt to push the EU into rejecting the Brexit extension. Johnson phoned Chancellor Angela Merkel in the early morning - actually confidential. But already in the morning, British media and news agencies reported extensively on the contents of the conversation.
- Merkel made it very clear to Johnson that Northern Ireland, together with the Republic of Ireland, should remain in the EU Customs Union, according to British officials.
- Otherwise, there would be a customs border between the two parts of the country, which would be unacceptable for the EU.
- If Johnson does not adjust his recent proposals accordingly, a Brexit agreement is "extremely unlikely," Merkel said.
Whether that's true, remained open. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert merely confirmed to SPIEGEL that the telephone call had taken place. "As usual, we do not report such confidential discussions," says Seibert.
In the British media, however, it was said that the conversation was a "moment of clarity": Merkel should be serious, an agreement "in principle impossible, not only now, but always", quotes the TV channel Sky a British official.
Tusk accuses Johnson of "stupid Black Peter game"
That would not just be another reason for the EU to refuse Brexit reprieve. It is also already part of the blame game , that game about the question of guilt, should it actually come to the no-deal. That upsets Donald Tusk. "It's about the future of Europe and the UK, and about the security and interests of our citizens," wrote the EU Council President on Twitter. "It's not about winning a stupid Black Peter game."
Otherwise you are left in Brussels. The position of the EU Commission is and remains that an agreement must reliably prevent the emergence of a new hard border on the Irish island. This condition was not fulfilled by Johnson's proposals so far.
On Monday, the British government submitted new documents in Brussels. Nothing was known about the exact content, but a breakthrough is not in sight, according to diplomats.